By Magdalena Hernandez

Ensuring Northeastern University Alumni Magazine stays fresh and stimulating—in name as well as in content (more on that in a little bit)—is a labor of love.

The accomplishments of 160,000-plus Northeastern graduates supply us with an endless choice of remarkable stories. So do the academic advancements and exciting events happening on campus. But how do we really know whether our readers are, as the kids say, feeling it?

Well, you helped us out there, too.

Last spring, we sent a questionnaire about the magazine to a random sample of our audience. More than four hundred of you replied. Your feedback gave us invaluable guidance on what's working, what we need to improve, and what stories you want us to cover.

What did we learn? Read on. The findings don't just shed light on the magazine. They'll also introduce you to you.

You like us . . . you really like us
The magazine continues to earn very high praise from readers. Ninety-five percent of you rate the overall quality of the magazine as either "excellent" or "good," up two percentage points from our last survey, conducted in 2000.

You also give the magazine high ratings for particular areas. The combined "excellent" and "good" ratings for writing and content are 97 percent and 94 percent, respectively. For design/layout and photography, the combined "excellent" and "good" ratings are 93 percent and 92 percent, respectively.

Acclaim for the magazine's illustrations is slightly more muted, yet even here 87 percent of you vote "excellent" or "good."

None of you rates the magazine "poor" in any respect.

Seventy percent of you say you read or looked through each of our last four issues. Twenty-six percent report you typically spend at least one hour reading or looking through every issue.

We asked what subjects you find of greatest interest. The two most popular topics are alumni profiles and university news (according to 67 and 62 percent of you, respectively), followed by university history (53 percent), faculty profiles (47 percent), first-person accounts by alumni (45 percent), and campus controversies (43 percent).

Your top three sections of the magazine? You voted for Classes/Alumni Update (78 percent), feature stories

(60 percent), and Huskiana (47 percent). Next in line are From the Field and Sports (both at 35 percent), and Alumni Passages and Letters (both at 33 percent).

Holding down the low end of the popularity scale are Books and Crossword, with just 17 and 8 percent, respectively, dubbing them "of greatest interest."

Generation gap
Tastes change with age—that's no secret. Even so, we were surprised at the extent to which different age groups favored different sections and story kinds.

For instance, From the Field, the magazine's faculty-research column, is "of greatest interest" to 43 percent of you who are under thirty-five. But only 24 percent of those sixty-five and older say the same thing. On the other hand, Letters attracts 51 percent of the sixty-five-plus set and only 18 percent of those under thirty-five.

Fifty-four percent of you who are sixty-five and older are especially interested in first-person accounts written by alums, compared with just 33 percent of the under thirty-fivers. Seventy-two percent of you who are thirty-five to forty-four greatly enjoy alumni profiles, compared with just 54 percent of those age sixty-five and older.

And ties to the current crop of students seem to loosen as you mature. Stories about campus and student life grab the attention of 38 percent of the under thirty-five group, while only 10 percent of those sixty-five and older apply the "of greatest interest" label to these stories.

Of the sections that rank highest in popularity, our feature stories enjoy the most consistent support across all the age groups, young and old.

Husky identification
The great majority of you— 81 percent—say the magazine helps you stay connected to what's happening at Northeastern (only 4 percent of you disagree with this statement).

Sixty-nine percent say the magazine makes you proud to be associated with your alma mater (something only 2 percent of you disagree with).

Eleven percent say you've attended an alumni event you read about in the magazine. The most mentioned outings were reunion-related activities (including Northeastern Night at the Pops), sporting events, and seminars.

Is the magazine "just another fundraising vehicle" sent to you by your alma mater? Happily, only 11 percent of you agree with this statement.

In the same vein, only 8 percent of you agree with the statement "[the magazine] does not have a lot of substance," proving you see value and significance in the stories we bring you.

Pay it forward
Huskies report they like to share this wealth. Forty percent of you say at least one other member in your household reads or looks at the magazine.

And ever see a copy of the magazine at your gym or your dentist's office? That's because 10 percent of you bring the magazine to a place of business for others to read, and 7 percent share copies with a family member or a friend.

Of course, others prefer to keep a good thing close at hand. Sixty-five percent of you hold on to copies of the magazine at least a week, and one in six (17 percent) says you keep them more than four weeks.

After reading the magazine, almost one in five of you (19 percent) saves it for future reference. Another 17 percent of you keep specific articles.

The intersection of Huntington and Madison Avenues
Our large alumni body and their proclivity for sharing the magazine with others create a sizable readership, making the magazine an attractive vehicle for advertisers.

One in ten of you says you've purchased a product or a service you?ve seen advertised in the magazine.

Even more of you (14 percent) have cut out an advertisement, visited an advertised business or website, or requested more information about an advertised product or service.

A rose by any other name
We were kicking around the possibility of a name change, so we asked you about it: Should we switch from Northeastern University Alumni Magazine to Northeastern University Alumni Magazine?

You were almost evenly divided in your responses. Twenty-six percent preferred the old title, 29 percent liked the proposed change, and slightly less than half (45 percent) had no preference either way.

Ultimately, we did decide to add the word "Alumni" to the masthead, beginning with this issue, to broadcast clearly that this magazine is created for you, with your interests in mind.

Thanks, and stay in touch
An enormous thank-you to all readers who filled out a questionnaire for us. Your participation helps us plan for the future, with the confidence that we're creating the Northeastern University Alumni Magazine you want.

As we work to bring you an exceptional university magazine, we invite you to keep giving us feedback. Shoot us an e-mail at s.piland@neu.edu. We're always happy to hear from you.

Magdalena Hernandez, MBA'02, is a senior editor.